You can't pair the first Apple Pencil with a USB-C iPad Pro

Apple's new adapter is only intended to connect a first-generation Apple Pencil to the new iPad, it can't be used to let the older Pencil work with iPad Pro models designed to have the second-generation one.

It's currently delayed by weeks, but the new USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter is an accessory required to use the first-generation Apple Pencil with the new 10.9-inch iPad. The adapter is included for free with new purchases of the $99 first-generation Apple Pencil, or separately for $9.

This means that in theory, an existing first-gen Apple Pencil owner could skip paying $129 for the second-generation Apple Pencil. Or even a brand-new user with a USB-C iPad Pro could save $30 by buying the first-gen Pencil with its now-bundled adapter.

However, it won't work.

USB-C iPad Pro models are designed to work with the second generation Apple Pencil, and they will not recognize the new adapter when it's plugged in. Monday's reviewers tried, to no avail.

This means that the adapter is, at least for now, exclusively for the new 10.9-inch iPad. That follows Apple releasing the Magic Keyboard Folio, which is similarly unusable by any other iPad.

9 Comments

djames4242 654 comments · 14 Years

About 2 years ago

I’d still spend the money to get the second gen pencil. Double tapping to switch tools and magnetic charging are both worth the upgrade.

Stabitha_Christie 559 comments · 3 Years

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen.

DAalseth 3015 comments · 6 Years

Stabitha_Christie said:

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen.

The reason was always stated as because you couldn’t charge it. Also with the AP1 you had to plug it in to get the iPad to see the pencil, which wasn’t possible with a USB-C iPad. Now it’s clear that even though there is now an adaptor, so you could plug it in, they have actually written a block in the software to prevent it from being recognized at all. That actually is a bit of a d**k move.

macgui 2438 comments · 17 Years

JP234 said:

I thought it was a shame that we need batteries to read a book. Now we're living in an age where even a pencil needs a battery.

Grow up. You don't need batteries to read a book unless there's a power failure or maybe you're camping. Nobody is stopping you from reading a paperback or hardcover book or buying a pad of paper and a No. 2 pencil, if that's your fetish.

A Pencil need a battery. A pencil does not. Though you might want to invest in a powered pencil sharpener. You know, for all that writing you do. Unless your a purist.

Or if you're having trouble telling the difference between a tablet and a book, you write on a tablet with a Pencil and you write in a book with a pencil.

HTH.

DAalseth said:

Stabitha_Christie said:

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen.

The reason was always stated as because you couldn’t charge it. Also with the AP1 you had to plug it in to get the iPad to see the pencil, which wasn’t possible with a USB-C iPad. Now it’s clear that even though there is now an adaptor, so you could plug it in, they have actually written a block in the software to prevent it from being recognized at all. That actually is a bit of a d**k move.

Apple has done this since before the PowerPC days, one example being a ROM block delivered via a firmware update that prevented using 3rd-party CPU upgrades. SOP. Sometimes it might be justified because some hardware just doesn't have the CPU and/or GPU to support the basic OS.

I don't have a USB-C iPad to see if one of the many Lightning > USB-C adapters will charge the Gen 1 Pencil, even if it won't pair. It may be that Apple block even the first Gen USB-C iPads from using the original Pencil.

Obviously, supporting it would mean a loss of a lot of functionality provided by the Gen 2 pencil, but not everybody needs all of it. Even without the upgraded Pencil, USB-C iPad offered and offer improved features and spec updates, so why not let someone continue to at least write with the old one.

Well, we know why. It isn't necessarily about "providing the best user experience" etc., etc.